|
Post by aspieandy on May 16, 2024 16:28:14 GMT
The audience when I went were engaged and willing to go on this journey.
How could you tell that ? Becasue I was sitting at the side, above the Stalls, and it was . bright
Also because it is part of the pleasure for me to glance across.
|
|
1,004 posts
|
Post by nash16 on May 16, 2024 22:13:44 GMT
Well, how disappointing was this? And where did those 5* reviews come from? Bizarre.
Loved BA’s Three Sisters at the Young Vic however many moons ago, but this was just dead dead dead. The acting styles all over the shop, including that deadly just-speak-with-no-emotion-or-meaning vibe younger actors seem to have fallen into. Nina Hoss was good, but not great, and the less said about the disco the better.
I didn’t care for anyone on that stage, not even dear June Watson. And the people sat next to Nina Hoss sadly left at the interval.
And why on earth hasn’t anyone done anything about the gun wielding Epikhodov wearing a Virginia Tech jacket? Yikes. I get “the point”, but distasteful, surely?
|
|
|
Post by Jan on May 17, 2024 5:42:20 GMT
How could you tell that ? Becasue I was sitting at the side, above the Stalls, and it was . bright
Also because it is part of the pleasure for me to glance across.
Well, I could see the audience too but I couldn't tell what they were thinking. From what I could tell the audience when I was there were as split as the reviews, there were about 10 who gave a standing ovation at the end (the 5* group) and about 10 who left at the interval (the 1*). Of the rest only about 3-4 of them ever laughed out loud for the comedy moments. At the end the views of the people immediately sitting around me were negative (one called the whole experience "punishing") but no doubt there were positive views from others. There were a few Germans near me too presumably there for Nina Hoss so they probably liked it. As you liked it I'd be interested to hear your take on this bit: In the text there's a bit where they are all lying around outside and a tramp/stranger come in begging for money and scares them. Conventionally he is presented as a threatening potentially violent character and the implication is clear - the Russian revolution is coming in a few years and people like him will sweep away everyone in the family. In this production though it was a small boy who asked the way (as per the text) but then sang a long song that I wasn't familiar with and which didn't seem to relate to anything at all. Then he got his money and left. What was the point of that ? Why would Varya be scared of him (per the text) ? Did you know what the song was and did that somehow convey a message of some sort ? For me it was just a few wasted minutes
|
|
|
Post by aspieandy on May 17, 2024 16:45:28 GMT
SPOILER ALERT!! + got to dash to the Royal Court >>
@jan It's a beautiful song. The key lyric is this, better to include the lyric than the whole song imo. I was affected, which is quite rare >>
Just give me one thing That I can hold on to To believe in this livin' Is just a hard way to go
|
|
|
Post by alessia on May 17, 2024 22:10:57 GMT
I didn’t like this at all, and I really wanted to. Having never seen The Cherry Orchard nor anything directed by this person I had no idea what to expect, and was really disappointed. I hated the way it was staged, the lights were directly on my eye line in second row all the first act which didn’t help.
it felt like there are too many actors and it’s very hard to work out who they are id you aren’t familiar with the play- or to even care about them. As there is nowhere for anyone to sit or lean on they keep pacing and running around the stage in a way that was exaggerated/ forced/
It was all confusing and slightly unhinged, including the costumes. The acting was over the top and weird. I haven’t made up my mind if it’s the play I didn’t like much or the production or both. Likely both! I was bored and completely indifferent to anyone’s plight in the story. Lady sat next to me left at the interval, I should have done the same…only saving grace of this evening was the free wine.
|
|
|
Post by alessia on May 18, 2024 6:38:32 GMT
I didn’t like this at all, and I really wanted to. Having never seen The Cherry Orchard nor anything directed by this person I had no idea what to expect, and was really disappointed. I hated the way it was staged, the lights were directly on my eye line in second row all the first act which didn’t help. it felt like there are too many actors and it’s very hard to work out who they are id you aren’t familiar with the play- or to even care about them. As there is nowhere for anyone to sit or lean on they keep pacing and running around the stage in a way that was exaggerated/ forced/ It was all confusing and slightly unhinged, including the costumes. The acting was over the top and weird. I haven’t made up my mind if it’s the play I didn’t like much or the production or both. Likely both! I was bored and completely indifferent to anyone’s plight in the story. Lady sat next to me left at the interval, I should have done the same…only saving grace of this evening was the free wine. having slept on it and being unable to edit my post, I have a couple points to add. It felt like not even the actors cared much for any of it, I don't know if the fact that they all sit next to audience members adds to this impression...I was in a corner of row BB and sitting next to the youngest and oldest women. The former kept smiling and making eye contact with the actors sitting at the opposite end of the stage. In fact, they all kept doing this sort of thing even during the play. It just felt like this was a dress rehearsal. Maybe it was intentional? whatever it was, it was distracting and odd. In general I just did not feel that there was any depth to anything- even the serious parts were so disconnected and mixed with the unhinged elements (the smoke machine, the ventriloquist, the magic tricks) that I am started wondering if this was all a big joke.
|
|
|
Post by kate8 on May 18, 2024 6:45:38 GMT
I agree with those who didn’t feel the singing worked, but (unlike Jan’s experience) when I went there was a lot of audience laughter, particularly in the first hour, and I think that made it a lot easier to enjoy the style of this production.
|
|